What you’ll need
700g room temperature water
150g sourdough starter
1kg The Healthy Baker Plain Flour
2 teaspoon sea salt
Take one large bowl and put it on the kitchen scales at zero. Fill with the 700g of room temperature water. Pour 150g starter into the bowl of water- it should be ripe and bubbly and should float as you tip it in, this is how you know it’s ready to bake with.
With your hand shaped as a claw, mix the starter and water together well.
Now tip in the 1kg flour and the sea salt and again using your hand or hands, combine the mixture really well, squelching it between your fingers so everything is combined.
If you have a dough scraper, use this to push extra dough and flour down the sides of the bowl and into the mix. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean shower cap and set aside for 1 hour.
Fold the sides of the dough up and over each other. Set aside for a further hour then repeat the folding process.
Cover the dough again and leave overnight or for at least 8 hours in a room with a nice stable temperature of about 20C, or until doubled in size.
Put the dough in the fridge for a further 8-10 hours.
Preheat the oven to 220C and tip 1/2 cup The Healthy Baker Plain Flour out on your work surface.
Gently turn the dough out on top of the flour and fold again from four sides, making sure you grab up all of the flour as you go.
Cut the dough in half and gently ‘pre-shape’ the dough into rounds. Cover with a tea towel and leave for half an hour.
Place two dutch ovens or enamel roasting trays (with lids) in the oven to preheat.
Now gently form the dough into neat rounds by grabbing the edges of each pre-shaped loaf and gently bringing into the centre and repeating all the way around.
Then turn the loaf over gently into proving baskets, a bowl lined with a flour dusted tea towel or directly onto sheets of baking paper. Leave uncovered for 20 minutes.
Gently and carefully lift the loaves into each casserole dish, slash a couple of times with a sharp knife so the bread has somewhere to release steam as it cooks.
Brush the tops of your loaves with a little water. Replace their lids and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
After this time remove the lids and bake for a further 20 minutes.
After this time your loaves will be golden and should have doubled in size in the oven.
Remove to a baking rack and let cool. Leave the loaves to rest for at least 30 mins before cutting.
